Orlando Valle

Born in Cuba and coming from a family of musicians, he studied flute from age 10 at the Manuel Saumell and Amadeo Roldán conservatories, and entered the Superior Institute of Arts of La Habana. His physique (very thin with an "Afro" haircut) led to him being given the nickname "Maraca".

In 1988, Maraca became part of the famous Cuban group Irakere, founded in 1973 by Chucho Valdés and Paquito D'Rivera, where he performs as a flutist, keyboardist, composer and arranger.

With Irakere, for 6 years, he shares the stage with such diverse artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Paquito D'Rivera, Chick Corea, and performs in the largest jazz clubs and festivals in the world.

Maraca enjoys international recognition and acquires great musical maturity that leads him to leave Irakere in 1994 and create in 1995 his own group Otra Visión, as a tribute to Emiliano Salvador whose first album was titled Nueva Visión.

With "Maraca y Otra Visión", also called some years later "Maraca Salsa & Latín Jazz band", Maraca tours the most important jazz festivals and venues, Latin music and World-music in Europe, Canada, United States, Africa and Latin America. Due to the success of his group, he returns several times in the programming of the same venues.

Described as 'visionary' by the Chicago Tribune, considered as '(...) one of the most sought-after names in Afro-Cuban music' by the Los Angeles Times and 'The most influential Afro-Cuban group of this early century' (Chicago Tribune), Maraca is appreciated for the generosity of his music and his ability to shine in all styles of Afro-Cuban music; his music is a cocktail of energies and fusions, mixing the most jazzy improvisations with the most danceable elements of popular Cuban music.

His nomination in 2003 to the American Grammy Awards (NARAS) as 'Best Salsa Album' makes him the youngest Cuban artist nominated by the prestigious American National Academy NARAS.

As a producer and composer, in addition to compositions for Irakere, his work stands out for the group Yumurí y sus Hermanos, of his singer brother Moisés Valle (better known as "Yumuri"), for which he composes most of his repertoire, as well as for the Venezuelan percussionist based in Paris, conguero Orlando Poleo; he also carries out the musical production, all arrangements and contributes some compositions for the album Pasaporte with percussion masters Tata Guines and Anga Diaz, a production that won the Grand EGREM Prize for the album in Cuba in 1994.

He is also one of the key composers of the Cubanismo project of trumpeter Jesús Alemañy, for which he composes and records the famous songs "Descarga de Hoy", "Aprovecha" (cha-cha-cha), "Ahora me Voy" (on the first album), and "Salsa Pilón" and "Mar y Tierra" on the second.

In 1998, he shares the production and musical direction of the album "Havana Flute Summit" on the album of the Canadian flutist/saxophonist Jane Bunnett, where he composes 3 songs including one for his also flutist wife Céline "Celine's cha cha".

In 1999, under the name of Afro Cuban Jazz Project, "Descarga Uno" was released, an album of jam-sessions that brings together Barbarito Torres, Tata Güines and Osdalgia.

Maraca also collaborates with the recordings of Afrocuban All Stars (Distinto y Diferente), Caravana Cubana, of the Japanese singer Nora (Cuban Colors, Trátame como soy), of Yumurí y Sus Hermanos (Cocodrilo de agua salá, Olvidame Si Puedes), Leyanis López (Como Una Mariposa), Rythm and Smoke, of the Swiss group Picason (Que felicidad (2005) for which he composes Cuida este amor, Chachacha Sabrosón, Que inspiración), Amadito Valdès (Bajando Gervasio (2002), for which he composes "Céline's groove" and in the recording of the Cape Verdean singer Cesaria Evora (Café Atlántico)...

Since 2001, Orlando Valle "Maraca" is also the instigator of the project "Maraca & Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters", presented at various international stages in Europe, Colombia and America. This project brings together some of the most prestigious Latin and American soloists as "guest stars", such as Giovanni Hidalgo (Puerto Rico), Jimmy Bosch (United States, trombone), Tata Guines (Cuba, congas), Changuito (Cuba, timbales), Papo Vázquez (Puerto Rico, trombone) and other outstanding Cuban soloists.

In September 2008, Maraca presents for 2 concerts during the Monterey jazz festival, California, a new project ("Cuban Lullabies") specially commissioned by Tim Jackson and Jason Olaine, directors of the festival. This project, also called the "Monterey Latin Jazz All-Stars", brings together great American, Puerto Rican and Cuban Latin-jazz soloists, such as Giovanni Hidalgo (congas, batá, percussion set), Horacio "El Negro" Hernández (drums), John Benítez (bass and bass guitar), Ed Simon (piano), David Sánchez and Miguel Zenón (saxophones), Murray Low (keyboards) as well as the string orchestra of the Monterey Jazz Festival.

This project, long developed by Maraca, offers a repertoire based on the great composers of Cuban classical music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Ignacio Cervantès, Ernesto Lecuona, as well as popular Cuban music from the late 19th century, such as the danzón, all arranged by Maraca from a decidedly modern and jazzy perspective, open to improvisation.

Maraca & the Monterey Latin Jazz All-Stars were scheduled in September 2009 for the jazz festivals in Colombia in Cali, Medellín, and Barranquilla, as well as in the European jazz festival circuit of 2010.

Maraca continues to explore the roots of Cuban music, adding modernity, and always influenced by jazz and salsa, with the will to spread and defend this music internationally.

Nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards as "Best Salsa Album of the Year", and winner of multiple CUBADISCO and EGREM Awards in Cuba as "Best Fusion Albums" (1999, 2001), "Best Latin-Jazz Album" (1995) and "Best Recording" (2003) the Cuban flutist, composer and band director Orlando Valle "Maraca" is quite a spectacle live when he directs his group of 12 musicians.

He has taken with tremendous success his groups "Maraca & Otra Visión" and "Maraca & Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters" to more than 35 countries in the world, including almost all of Europe and United States – where he tours extensively several times a year since 1996, and also Canada, Africa, Cuba, the Caribbean (Saint Lucia, Martinique) and Latin America (Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil).

Three of his video-clips have also been nominated and awarded during the annual video-clip competition "Premios Lucas" in Cuba, as "Best Fusion Video-Clip" (1999, 2001) and "Best Emerging Artist".

When Maraca is not on tour with his group or as a guest in other projects, he composes, arranges, records or produces in Cuba for himself or for other internationally famous artists, such as Cubanismo (Cuba), Afro-Cuban All-Stars (Cuba), Nora (Japan), Orlando Poleo (Venezuela), Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde) and many other artists.

Orlando Valle "Maraca" is also the creator of the project "Maraca & Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters" (15 musicians); has presented at various European and American stages since 2001 the most prestigious Latin and American soloists as "guest stars", such as Giovanni Hidalgo (Puerto Rico), Jimmy Bosch (USA), Tata Guines (Cuba), Changuito (Cuba) and other outstanding Cuban soloists.

"Maraca & Afro Cuban Jazz Masters" is characterized by the high musical level and international recognition of the invited soloists, and their rotating nature, as well as the complicity and enthusiasm of its participants on stage, always willing to deliver the best of their music, with a brilliant and explosive original repertoire.

Often, Maraca directs unpublished and ambitious concert-shows, such as for example the show commissioned for the 120th anniversary of "Habana Club" rum telling the musical history of Cuba through a big-band and a dance corps of 120 dancers mounted specially for the occasion, or the concerts described as "unforgettable" by the Cuban national press, such as those he offered for the audience of the Havana Jazz Plaza Festivals of 1997 and 1998, together with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas (1997), Giovanni Hidalgo and David Sánchez (1998), and in 2002, together with Yoruba Andabo, where he brought together on stage about thirty musicians, percussionists and folklorist dancers.